Part-timers

[tomahawkeer]

I've worked professionally in IT for almost 13 years now, however, work that I have done for people outside of my day to day job, has been strictly for people that I knew personally through work, or friends and never really worried about legal issues due to the fact that I wasn't charging for my services.

I have decided to start up a part time business, in doing repairs tune ups, malware removal etc, and im having issues taking the step and actually start doing it. Im trying to do this slowly and as inexpensively as possible, so im wondering what is the absolute minimums that you would recommend to just get rolling. I look at Customer Management solutions, accounting, the basic costs of websites, do I want a seperate phone for the business etc, etc (already have the website just need to develop it a little more).

Im starting out part time, as well as small time, and could really use some opinions as to where to start with just the bare basics to best invest the little bit of money now, and to take every cent that I make off jobs, and use to further grow the business.

Any suggestions and feedback are welcomed.

 

[anonymous Mac Tech]

Any suggestions and feedback are welcomed.

Do a forum search. I understand you are new, but there has to be literally dozens of threads that are similar to this.

 

[Parkwaytech]

Search the forums, but here is a quick list:

• Put away money for advertising
• Encourage referrals with some sort of discount
• Automate as much as you can to save time
• Keep your expenses low
• Get some system in place to keep track of your work
• Keep good records for the tax man
• Don't set your rates too low
• Keep reading here and other places to better yourself as a business owner

 

[Tech in SC]

Not that this is what you're looking for but make sure (if you're in the IT field now) your current employer doesn't have issue with your new venture... legally or otherwise. The last thing you want is to lose your "real" job before you're ready to make the leap in your own timing.

I guess my other piece of advice is NEVER do your business stuff on your employer's time. That goes for using their equipment or supplies as well (copies, staples, pens, etc). Always be above reproach, you'll be better for it. You never know when your boss may want to subcontract your services later on.

 

[StableSolutions]

Not that this is what you're looking for but make sure (if you're in the IT field now) your current employer doesn't have issue with your new venture... legally or otherwise. The last thing you want is to lose your "real" job before you're ready to make the leap in your own timing.

I guess my other piece of advice is NEVER do your business stuff on your employer's time. That goes for using their equipment or supplies as well (copies, staples, pens, etc). Always be above reproach, you'll be better for it. You never know when your boss may want to subcontract your services later on.

He made a GREAT point here. Your reputation is what sets you apart from your competition, without it you are nothing and your business will forever be overshadowed by "that one guy...".

You can start up your business for SUPER cheap if you put in the work yourself.

Once you come up with a business name, then work on some kind of logo for your website and business cards. (see the advertising critique and marketing forums for extra help on this)

Business cards are awesome. You can get some template cards (very basic) from vistaprint.com usually about $10 for 250 cards I think it is... or you can also go to gotprint.com and upload your own jpg of a full layout for much less. (I paid $25.00 WITH shipping for 1000 cards).

A referral system is a great way to get that extra business coming in.
My referrals works like this... You get credit for up to 5 referrals per billing cycle. Each referral (that signs a contract with me for 6 months or more) gets you 5% off per month. Since I have it capped at up to 5 referrals per month, you get up to 25% off per month for referring business to me.

I'm able to do this because one customer signing on for 6 months is contracted at a minimum of about $250/month, 5 of these is an additional $1250 a month ... well worth giving somebody else $50 off their monthly bill.

Just a couple thoughts, but like the others said do a search as well. =]

 

[FoolishTech]

Aside from what others have said...

just MHO on the phone thing, you most definitely want a separate phone for your business! I and a lot of others here have had no trouble with a free Google Voice number, which you can forward to your landline, cell, etc. As you grow if you want the GV number on a dedicated phone, look into an Obi100 adapter for about $50. There's your free business phone service.

 

[tomahawkeer]

Ok I guess I should have been a little more descriptive as to what i've done so far. This will be a part time gig (for now) until I get a customer base, and have the financial ability to progress the business to the point of taking it full time (years down the road) baby steps. Every penny earned from the beginning will invested back into the business, I will not be taking a single penny for a salary, until the business is fully established, full time, with a brick and mortar location of its own.

First off, my boss is 100% aware of what i'm doing and does not have any issues with it. A lot of people that I work with, do the same things. I am the head of the IT department for a non-IT based company. We handle all of our issues, not anybody else's.

I currently have already set up the website (always a work in progress im never satisfied with it), I've got the logo designed, and business cards are already printed. I have the money ready to purchase the Computer Business Kit here, and have planned to do so from the day I found out about it. I obviously have tools, i'm in the process of redoing a portion of my basement to accommodate my physical needs for the shop. I currently already have the ability to work on a few machines there, so its just a matter of when I start getting business.

I have yet to advertise my services, so is this my next step? I currently do not have any ability to take care of the accounting, or ticket tracking, and customer management. I am a 1 man show, and have not found anything free along those lines is that going to be a necessity? Contracts will be in the not to distant future however, just to get started, should my main focuses be getting the cash for management accounting and tracking systems, and is there anything else I should consider before trying to get some customers?

 

[Tech in SC]

Ok I guess I should have been a little more descriptive as to what i've done so far. This will be a part time gig (for now) until I get a customer base, and have the financial ability to progress the business to the point of taking it full time (years down the road) baby steps. Every penny earned from the beginning will invested back into the business, I will not be taking a single penny for a salary, until the business is fully established, full time, with a brick and mortar location of its own.

First off, my boss is 100% aware of what i'm doing and does not have any issues with it. A lot of people that I work with, do the same things. I am the head of the IT department for a non-IT based company. We handle all of our issues, not anybody else's.

I currently have already set up the website (always a work in progress im never satisfied with it), I've got the logo designed, and business cards are already printed. I have the money ready to purchase the Computer Business Kit here, and have planned to do so from the day I found out about it. I obviously have tools, i'm in the process of redoing a portion of my basement to accommodate my physical needs for the shop. I currently already have the ability to work on a few machines there, so its just a matter of when I start getting business.

I have yet to advertise my services, so is this my next step? I currently do not have any ability to take care of the accounting, or ticket tracking, and customer management. I am a 1 man show, and have not found anything free along those lines is that going to be a necessity? Contracts will be in the not to distant future however, just to get started, should my main focuses be getting the cash for management accounting and tracking systems, and is there anything else I should consider before trying to get some customers?

Alot more I could address here but don't have the time. There are several free software sources for accounting, ticket tracking, client management but do you really need those at this point? Don't make it anymore complicated than it has to be.. K.I.S.S. But if you insist, check out shockey monkey. Good luck...

I thought my "side"computer gig was going to take years too but found myself overwhelmed with work very quickly & within 18 months quite my job and dove in.

As for brick and mortar... its your call but thats just more overhead that you don't need (depending on your business model).

 

[techpitt]

I have yet to advertise my services, so is this my next step? I currently do not have any ability to take care of the accounting, or ticket tracking, and customer management. I am a 1 man show, and have not found anything free along those lines is that going to be a necessity? Contracts will be in the not to distant future however, just to get started, should my main focuses be getting the cash for management accounting and tracking systems, and is there anything else I should consider before trying to get some customers?

Our stories are remarkably similar, even down to the basement workshop. Sounds like you're on the right track. My advice (or at least, my plan in the same situation as you) for tackling the final objects between where you are now and having your business 'go live':

1. Get the TN business kit. Customize it to your needs and work out your 'menu' of services, 'best practices', and checklists for tracking job progress.

2. Once you have the TN business kit, you'll get a nice discount on MHelpDesk ($15/month). I plan on subscribing right before I launch my first advertisements, as it appears to be a great CRM for IT businesses.

3. You're reinvesting all your business income, so make QuickBooks one of your first purchases unless you're the type that like building and maintaining and updating and maintaining giant spreadsheets/databases. The 2012 version is only $130~ on Amazon. I'm waiting until I've had a customer or two to cover the cost and will then retroactively input data from those sales. Invoices can be winged for the first couple of sales, and then you'll have QuickBooks (and tax preparedness) forever more.

Best of luck to you! I'm looking forward to hearing how your business evolves.

 

[callthatgirl]

+1 FT. Get a phone system down now no matter what. I have 6 phones line now that I pay for and it sucks!

Get general business insurance
Get work orders
Have a firm booking appt system in place
Be clear with with your clients in regards to repairs
Never charge to learn
Offer remote support

As for advertising/marketing
Spend your free time going to networking events
Hustle your cards
LinkedIn in your local town/state

These all worked for me, I could write tons of more ideas down.

 

[gikstar]

Advertising...
Have your prior/current/future customers leave reviews on sites like: Google, Yahoo! Local, Linked In, Yelp

Get as many reviews on each of those sites as possible and always keep working it. Make a link on your website for people to review from there and post reviews from there. It's important for clients to see lots of reviews.

 

[tomahawkeer]

I don't think I need an entire phone system, since i'm the only employee. I did venture back into my google voice account, and take a look at that. I may have to invest in one of the OBI100 /110 it seems to be a good inexpensive place to start.

As far as advertising goes, I plan on hitting as many things as I can starting off. Yellow Pages, business cards (already have), fliers, google and yahoo reviews obviously. I've already gotten my linkedin, facebook, twitter accounts set up, I just haven't started adding people yet and actually taking things live.

One thing that I do not have, and is a big thing, is business insurance. My plan the entire time, has been to invest very little money, get a couple of customers, and basically let what I make from the pay for anything else that I need before I try to really expand the company keeping overhead as small as possible. About how much am I to expect to pay for business insurance for just myself on a monthly / yearly basis?

 

[The Magus]

Consider how far you are willing to travel. Consider if you want to teach classes to get referrals. Flyers with tearoff tags from bottom (straight down).